Scramblers Bailout artists like Bob Estes rarely crack

Driving ranges are packed stall-to-stall with John Daly wannabestrying to knock balls 250 yards on the fly. Maybe that's why theaverage handicap in the U.S. has not budged in two decades.Amateurs would be smarter to emulate Bob Estes and other mastersof the short game. If you're unfamiliar with Estes, you're notalone. The 32-year-old Texan has won only once in his 10 yearson Tour. Still, he has earned more than $3 million, chieflybecause he's the Daly of scrambling.

Scrambling--trying to make a par or a birdie after missing agreen in regulation--became an official Tour stat last year.Short-game guru Dave Pelz, however, has kept such data since1975. Pelz calls scrambling the best indicator of a player'sability. "Even the finest Tour players miss about six greens perround," he says. "Add to that the three or four times they'renear the green in two on par-5s, and you have about 10 chancesper round to get up and down. The best players can do itconsistently."

The chart below shows the Tour's top five scramblers, along withtheir earnings, their Tour ranks in greens in regulation andputting, and their scrambling percentage. Note that all fiverank in the top 50 on the money list--a claim you can't make forthe leaders in driving distance, fairways hit, GIRs, sand savesor any other major stat. Lee Janzen stands sixth on the moneylist and only 111th in up and downs, but those numbers aredeceptive. In March, Janzen was 144th with a scrambling successrate of 52.6%. Last month, under Pelz's tutelage, including athree-day crash course the week before the Open, Janzen raisedhis percentage to a passable 57.9 and won his second Open title.

He still isn't close to Estes, the 1997 Tour leader inscrambling (68.8%) and sand saves (70.3%) and the runner-up inputting. What are Estes's short-game secrets? During practicerounds he sketches the contours of each green in a notebook sothat he'll know where to aim approach shots for easier chips andputts. He also deploys different balls for different surfaces.On hard greens, he plays a soft balata for extra bite. On softgreens he switches to a slightly harder ball, which spins less.

A trim 6'1" 175-pounder, Estes averages only 269.1 yards off thetee. He makes his living by being golf's Fran Tarkenton, thesuperscrambler, and he may soon be saving still more pars. "Ijust switched to cross-handed putting," he says. "I think I'mabout to become an even better scrambler." --Rick Lipsey

Stellar play by amateurs continued at the U.S. Women's Open.Jenny Chuasiriporn lost in sudden death, and four other ams madethe cut. On the men's side, Matt Kuchar took the week off, butamateur J.J. Henry was 49th at Hartford. Here are the year'sbest showings by amateurs in pro events.